This month has obviously been a whirlwind of activity for all of us. The packing, moving, new job, new day care didn't really lend itself to much picture taking or blogging. Ally has perfected a lot of skills and even has added some new things.
Walking. She can really move now! She rarely crawls at all and is comfortable walking anywhere. Last months she really was only comfortable walking at home and work revert to crawling in public places but not anymore. Lowes is among her favorite places to explore! She is much faster and a lot less stiff-legged these days. She gets a little clumsy when she gets tired but she really does great most of the time.
Talking. Ally's vocabulary includes dada, mama, ella, ball, up, doggie and a variety of sounds I can't yet translate. She is very good at pointing and shaking her head both yes and no which is new. She calls Uncle Corey "co-co" which is so cute so it is becoming very obvious that she knows what things are, but doesn't necessarily know how to put the right sounds together to make the words yet. She can point to many things if you say the words like shoes, jacket, blanket, tree, snack, chair, cup and various body parts. In day care she has been learning sign language and she uses the sign for more perfectly. So perfect that she asks for more when she hasn't even had anything yet. She also puts her hand to her mouth to show she is hungry and is working on the sign for please. I would prefer she learns to talk rather than sign but learning is learning and I will take what I can get.
Eating.Her eating is still a cause for concern with us as she just has not been very consistent. It doesn't seem to bother her that she doesn't take in as much as we think she should and her weight is right on so there is no real cause for concern other than our own stress about it. Each day brings something new- one time she only wants to feed herself, one time she only wants to be fed from a fork, only cheese, no cheese, little pieces only, big pieces only.... She has a few things she really enjoys like string cheese, milk, mac and cheese, corn dogs, grapes, black beans, goldfish but all others are really hit and miss. She is now eating some applesauce and pancakes which she has always refused in the past. Other favorites like peas, grilled cheese, cooked carrots, chicken seem to have been a phase and she wont eat them now. We do find that she prefers big chunks of things she can take bites of versus small pieces on her tray. Meats are the biggest obstacle but we are working on it. Day care hasn't helped in this area as much as we had hoped but she is getting exposed to a variety of foods and only gets jarred baby food on the rare occasion she absolutely refuses to eat anything else we give her.
Drinking. Ally is down to one bottle per day which is bedtime only. She loves drinking from cups and really decided on her own to give up bottles. She discovered chocolate milk and only really like the pre-mixed milk rather than white milk with chocolate added to it (just like Mommy). She likes cups of all kinds and uses a straw like a pro. She gets a lot of juice and milk at day care so we mostly just do water and milk at home.
Teeth. Ally has a bunch coming in right now. Basically the entire lower right side has decided to come in at once so it is very sore and swollen lately. Her molar is poking through and the one right next to the center teeth is almost all the way up. Not fun!
Ally absolutely loves to play with toys of all kinds. She loves toys with doors she can open and close and also with things like shape sorters where she can put one piece into another. She is also very into sitting in chairs and climbing on furniture. Ally is a girly girl right now and loves bags of all kinds that she can put toys in and put on her shoulder, bracelets/watches and lip gloss. We have a few things in mind for Christmas which we hope will help her with these new obsessions.
